No Longer Alone
by George Weasley's Ear
Summary: The Doctor is not alone. The Author, a Time Lady and one of his best friends, disguised herself as a human to escape the Time War. But how will they handle Weeping Angels and the return of the Master? Rated T for mild swearing at times. It's not actually that bad, I just wanted to rate it T because I'm paranoid.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Honestly, why do I need this silly disclaimer. I'm not Steven Moffat or the BBC or anything. It's _fan_fiction for Rassilon's sake! Sorry, don't wanna rant. Enjoy chapter one!

* * *

Somewhere in London, a young woman woke up with a puzzled look on her face. She blinked her hazel eyes a few times, trying to understand the dream she'd just had. She'd had it before, but there were more details than before.

The young woman just sighed and took her notebook and pen from the table. She wrote the date and then scribbled down what she could remember from the dream, complete with pictures.

'Olivia? Not that I'm complaining or anything, but are ya considering getting up any time soon?' called her flatmate and best friend, Ruby.

'Yeah, I'll be right there!' Olivia yelled back, shutting her notebook and throwing it on to her bedside table.

She jumped out of bed and quickly pulled on jeans and a t-shirt, dug in her drawer for a pair of socks that sort-of matched, located her trainers under the bed, and finally yanked a sweatshirt over her head backwards. She ran a brush through her unruly brown hair as she hurried out of her room. Ruby clapped sarcastically as she emerged.

'Oh shut up,' Olivia said, sticking out her tongue.

'You do realise your sweatshirt is on backwards, right?' Ruby said.

Olivia glanced down.

'Oh. For the love of Gallifrey, not again!' she cried.

'What was that?' asked Ruby.

'What was what?' Olivia scrunched her eyebrows together.

'You said "Gallifrey." What on earth is Gallifrey?' Ruby insisted.

'Oh! That! Umm, it's part of my book. It's the planet they're from. The characters, I mean,' she babbled.

'That bloody book,' Ruby muttered. Then, louder, 'Seriously, are you ever planning on finishing it? You were well underway with writing it when I met you; that was _three_ years ago!'

'I've got a lot to write, OK? It's gonna be a long book. And don't swear!'

Ruby thought, privately, that the whole English language had been created in less time than her friend was taking to write one book. She didn't dare voice this aloud, she just rolled her eyes. Olivia seemed to not understand the reason for Ruby's eye roll.

'Look, I know it seems stupid to you, but my mum always taught me that swearing and violence are the last acts of a limited mind!' Olivia said passionately.

'I know that, Liv. You've told me a million times.'

Olivia groaned at the nick name, which Ruby ignored.

'Look, I've got to get to work before they sack me again. You, write something. And get some milk!' Ruby told her before grabbing her bag and shutting the door behind her.

Olivia sighed and turned on her laptop. Then she remembered the dream that she'd written down in her notebook, and grabbed it from its place on her bedside table. She sighed again at the dirty bowl Ruby had left on the table. She placed it in the sink and started to write. She added the dream she'd had to chapter one, and then focused on other things she'd thought of, which she kept in her notebook and head. She worked for about an hour before there was a ring at the door. Annoyed, she went to answer it.

'Hello!' said the lanky man at the door, sounding overly enthusiastic. 'I'm John Smith and this is Martha Jones'- he pointed to a pretty black woman standing next to him- 'we've come about the'- he checked a leather wallet- 'mice.'

He handed her the wallet, which said 'Smith Extermination Company- John Smith, exterminator' and had a picture of a mouse on it.

'Um, sorry, but I think you've got the wrong flat. We don't have mice,' said Olivia.

She looked up from the paper at the two people at the door. She would not have pegged them as exterminators. The man was wearing a blue pinstriped suit and brown duster coat with red trainers, and a _tie_. The woman had on jeans and a red leather jacket. Didn't exterminators wear jumpsuits or something?

'Well, I suppose you could have a look…'

Olivia opened the door all the way and stepped aside so they could come in.

'Brilliant,' John Smith beamed.

He pulled out a long, silver pen thing from his pocket and began moving it around in the air. It lit up blue at the end and made a buzzing noise.

'What's that?' asked Olivia, confused.

'Oh, uh,' John Smith paused, as if thinking. 'Mouse detector,' he decided.

Olivia was still confused, but clearly she wasn't going to get a better answer. Her confusion, however, did not stop her from overhearing John Smith whisper to Martha Jones:

'The TARDIS was right; there is artron energy in this flat. Not much, just a tiny amount. But more than usual on Earth.'

He looked up and saw Olivia staring at them. He knew she'd overheard; the look on her face said so. What he didn't understand was the fact that she seemed to be trying to remember something. Odd, he thought. He made a mental note to figure this out later.

'Sorry, what was your name again?' he asked.

'Olivia Reynolds,' she told them.

'That's a lovely name,' he said. 'And, err. What do you do for a living?'

'I'm an author. I'm writing a book right now. It's my first one, actually.' She sounded proud.

'But this is a nice flat. Where'd you get the money for it? You couldn't have gotten it from writing if you aren't published yet,' John Smith said, looking strangely disturbed.

'I dunno, an uncle died and left me some money or something. It's none of your business anyway,' said Olivia defensively.

'Oh, I like her,' said Martha, speaking up for the first time. 'He needs to be reminded of that sometimes,' she added, when both Olivia and John Smith stared at her.

'Right,' said John Smith awkwardly. 'I'm picking up something from that room there. Is that your room, Olivia?'

'Yeah,' she replied.

'Is it alright if we have a look?'

'Alright, but watch out. It's a terrible mess!'

Olivia followed Martha and John into the room. John kept scanning around until the buzzing got louder near the drawer of her bedside table. He opened the drawer without hesitation and plunged his hand into it, reaching around until he pulled out a small silver fob watch.

'Aha! What's this?' he exclaimed.

'Well, it's not a mouse,' said Olivia drily.

But at the same time, Martha was saying:

'It's a fob watch! It's just like yours, Doctor!'

Olivia looked at her oddly.

'Is this yours then?' John asked.

'Uh… I think so.'

He handed Olivia the watch. She held it without looking at it.

'Yeah, it's mine. Just an heirloom or something. It's broken, anyway; doesn't open.'

'How do you know it's broken if you can't open it?' asked John and Martha in unison.

'I dunno! I don't know. It just is,' Olivia stammered. She tried to sound more confident by adding, 'And you two aren't exterminators, are you?'

'No,' said John. 'That we are not.'

'And you're not really called John Smith. She called you 'Doctor.''

'No, I'm not John Smith. I'm called the Doctor.'

'I'm really called Martha Jones, though!' said Martha.

Olivia just nodded at her. She had more questions.

'If you're not exterminators, what are you doing here?' she demanded.

'You overheard what I whispered to Martha.'

'Yeah, so?'

'You already know why we're here. You heard.'

'Fine, are you aliens?'

'What?' asked Martha.

'You two. Are you aliens?'

'He is,' Martha said. 'I'm human.'

'But what about you, Olivia? Are you human?' the Doctor asked.

'What do you mean? Of course I'm human! Why wouldn't I be human?'

'It's your watch. You stare at it like you can't see it. You think it's broken. And these markings on the top. They're in my language, Gallifreyan.'

Olivia collapsed onto the bed and put her face in her hands.

'No, this isn't real! It has to be a dream. I wrote about this in my book. There was a watch and Gallifrey and aliens and artron energy and TARDIS's and you! You were in it, but you looked different! So you're saying I'm an alien?'

'Shh. Shh,' the Doctor said soothingly, as Martha went to hug the girl. 'No, you're human. Sorry, you're human.' He hugged her as well.

'So what's the watch?'

'It's the actual you,' said Martha. 'Right, Doctor?'

'Yep. It contains a Time Lord consciousness. Your consciousness.'

'A Time Lord consciousness,' repeated Olivia in a nearly silent whisper.

Words were ringing through her head. Whispers and murmurs. Some were in her own voice while others were in the Doctor's and Martha's. And none were in a logical order. _Time Lord. Time Lord. Gallifrey. TARDIS. Doctor. Lonely, so lonely. Open me. Please open me. I promise it won't hurt you. Number two: you have to be my friend. _And older memories that Olivia had forgotten were resurfacing. She saw metal pepper-pot things that she knew to be Daleks. And metal men. And that sky. That orange sky above tall red grass. Her home. _Open me. Open me. Open me. Open me!_

_No_, thought Olivia. _I certainly will not. _Why did she have to?

'You don't have to open the watch,' said Martha kindly. 'Not if you don't want to.'

'I know,' said Olivia. 'I'm not going to.'

The Doctor looked so sad. And he was, because when he'd held the watch, just for a second, the person inside seemed kind. And familiar. He knew her, whoever she was. Or at least she knew him. Olivia picked up on this.

'I mean, I'm sure I will one day, just not now. I can't now, Doctor! Here'-she grabbed her mobile phone off the table and handed it to him-'If I ever change my mind, I'll ring you, OK?'

The Doctor smiled a little sadly.

'OK.'

'What if one of your friends calls you?' Martha asked.

'I'm gonna get a new number,' Olivia explained. 'And besides, I really don't have that many friends.'

The Doctor, who was scrolling through the contacts list, saw this was true. There were only three names on it, and one of them was 999, the emergency number.

'Well, I hope you'll call soon,' the Doctor said like a hopeful five-year-old boy as he slipped the phone into his coat pocket.

'Maybe I will,' Olivia said quietly.

'Bye, then,' said the Doctor.

'Bye!' Olivia waved.

The Doctor left the apartment quickly, before anyone could see his shoulders slump in disappointment. Martha would follow soon, but she wanted to say a better goodbye to Olivia; she felt sorry for the girl.

'Sorry about him. I think he's been really really lonely for a long time.'

'It's OK,' said Olivia, waving it off.

'I know. I just want you to know that you don't have to open it if you don't want to. Cause you won't be you if you open that watch. The Doctor did that, turned himself human for three months. The human him really didn't want to go. He only did it to save everyone else.'

'OK, thank you. Well you'd better follow him before he wonders where you've got to,' Olivia said with a smile.

Martha couldn't help thinking that it looked an awful lot like the Doctor's smile when he was upset and trying to hide it.

'Yeah. Good point,' Martha agreed. 'He'll think you ate me!'

Olivia laughed and gave Martha a quick hug.

'Bye, Martha. I'll see you around.'

Martha grinned at her and left the flat to find the Doctor.

Olivia went back to the kitchen table, where her laptop was, and finally finished her book. Perhaps she'd make that call someday.

* * *

A/N: OK, I know what you're thinking. Actually, no I don't. But what I would be thinking is 'Oh look, she's written an OC Time Lady fic! Never seen one of _those _before!' So yes. This _will _in fact be a Time Lady fic. I'm hoping my plan for it will be unique. I'm at least not copying LizzieXX (read her fan-fics; they're excellent) because I don't plan on the Doctor falling in love with my Time Lady or vice-versa, at least not at the moment; this may change. My OC, I sincerely hope, is also not a Mary-Sue. I'm trying to make her have flaws, though these will be more evident once she opens the watch.

So, here's a basic description of Olivia Reynolds, soon to be-SPOILERS, you can't know her name- a Time Lady who I made up (yes, the description idea does come from LizzieXX, but only because I admire her ideas).:

She has long medium-coloured brown hair (not very dark, not that light, I mean) that gets messy a lot, hazel eyes, a sort-of-pointy nose, and pale-ish skin. She's medium height and build. She has pretty small hands, but big feet to compensate for that.

That's all the info you're getting for now, mostly because I'm still working on imagining her. I know I gave you _some _description in the actual chapter, but not all. Still haven't, technically. Chapter two will be posted as soon as I get around to it, and after that, it will be a rewrite of the rest of series three (just Blink, and the episodes with the Master). After that, I'll get to work on the sequal, if this is actually popular with you people. So I'm really just going to have to see if I should write more. Hope so! See you soon with chapter two!

Farewell, nerdy people!


	2. Chapter 2

Olivia had told the Doctor and Martha that she wasn't ready to open the watch yet, but the voice coming out of it was quite insistent that she do so. It kept whispering 'open me' over and over, every single second. Olivia dreamed about opening the watch along with the old standby of memories that were not hers. Olivia still refused to open the thing, but she didn't know how much more of this she could stand.

So after a month of constant whispers from her old fob watch, Olivia asked Ruby if she could borrow her phone.

'What do you need it for?' Ruby demanded.

'You wouldn't believe me if I told you,' Olivia told her with a shake of her head.

'Try me,' challenged Ruby.

Olivia sighed; she'd been hoping Ruby wouldn't do this, but it was kind of hard to avoid. Ruby loved that phone. So Olivia explained everything, and at the end of her tale, Ruby said nothing. That was a bad sign, Ruby always had something to say.

'Ruby? You believe me, don't you?' Olivia quietly asked.

'Yeah, I guess...' Ruby said hesitantly.

'But?'

'Isn't there a chance you've been thinking about your book too much?'

Olivia stared at her in a hurt sort of way. She'd been sure her best friend would believe her.

'Look, Olivia, I believe you. It's just kind of crazy. You can see that, can't you?' Ruby said quickly.

'Yeah, I know,' she admitted. 'I thought the same thing when the Doctor told me. It's true, though. I wrote about it because I subconsciously remembered all that stuff, apparently.'

Ruby stared at her more intensely than usual, as if she wanted to say something important or profound. She didn't, though. All she said was:

'Who's going to help me pay the rent now?'

Olivia laughed. A thought that wasn't quite hers popped into her head. 'Humans. Always worrying about trivial things.'

'Don't laugh! I'm serious! Where am I going to find another flatmate as good as you?'

'Don't worry, Ruby. I'm sure you can do better than a writer who leaves a mess everywhere and scares away your dates.'

'That only happened once,' Ruby said. 'And he was a prat anyway.'

Olivia hugged her.

'Be careful,' Ruby whispered into her hair.

'I don't have to worry about that. The alien who made me up does.'

'You don't have to do this,' Ruby said. 'You could stay.'

Olivia shook her head.

'No. I can't live knowing that I'm not real. I'm sorry, Ruby.'

'Fine, if that's the choice you made, I won't stop you.'

Ruby handed her mobile to Olivia. Olivia found her own number in the contacts and pressed send. Someone picked up immediately.

'Hullo?' said the Doctor's voice on the other end.

'Doctor! Hi! It's Olivia.'

The Doctor was silent for a moment before he replied.

'Oh, right! Hi!'

'Who did you think was calling?'

'I dunno.'

Olivia rolled her eyes slightly.

'So I suppose you're calling coz of the watch?'

'Yes. I'm going to open it.'

'Are you opening because you want to or because you think you have to?'

'I want to.'

'OK. Wait till I get there, though.'

'Alright.'

'Doctor, is that Olivia on the phone?' came Martha's faint voice in the background.

'Yes,' the Doctor said to her.

Then, to Olivia:

'We'll be there soon. Actually, we might be there now.'

'OK, I guess I'll see you soon.'

'Yup.' The Doctor popped the p at the end of the word.

Olivia smiled a little sadly and hung up.

'OK Ruby, you can have your phone back now,' Olivia said.

There was no reply. Ruby had left the room. Olivia just set the phone down on a table and waited. A second later, a whooshing, grinding, wheezing noise and a lot of wind alerted her to the fact that the Doctor was there. She remembered the sound from dreams.

A 1960s Police Box appeared after a moment of the noise. The door opened inward and the Doctor came out, with Martha close behind.

'Hello!' the Doctor said. 'We're here to pick you up now.'

Olivia nodded.

'Can I just do something quickly?'

'Sure,' said the Doctor. 'Take as long as you like.'

Olivia went to her room and found a paper and pen. She wrote a small letter to Ruby, thanking her for being such a good friend and supporting her, and apologising for leaving. She folded the note up and came out of her room, placing it on the table she'd left Ruby's phone on.

'What's that?' asked Martha.

'Letter to my flatmate,' Olivia explained. 'She's also my best friend.'

'Oh,' Martha said, feeling very sorry for both Olivia and her unnamed friend.

'OK, Doctor. I'm ready to go.'

'OK,' he said. 'Do you want to open the watch out here, or in the TARDIS.'

'Out here. I want to see this place before I...You know.'

'You aren't dying,' the Doctor said.

'I know,' Olivia said.'I just don't know what to call it exactly.'

Martha opened her mouth to point out that Olivia WAS going to die, in a sense, but thought better of it.

Olivia pushed the watch fob and it opened, sending a cloud of golden light out towards her face. She gasped as a billion images and thoughts and memories poured into her head. Olivia Reynolds became just a memory, too, as all of another person's thoughts filled her mind. She grew back her other heart. She was remembering who she was. Every good thing, every bad thing. She remembered regenerating seven times, remembered fighting with her older sister. She remembered her given name. And finally, she remembered the name she had chosen, She was the Author. The light dissipated, and she blinked.

'Hi!' she beamed at them both.

Then her gaze fell upon the Doctor. She hugged him tightly

'Thete!' she said in Gallifreyan, the beautiful, lilting language they had grown up with.

'You're alive! You regenerated. Thete, where are they?'

'Where are who?' the Doctor said in English.

The Author sighed.

'The Time Lords!' she said, switching to English. 'Why can't I hear them?'

She looked up at the Doctor, seemingly studying him. Then she scrunched her eyebrows.

'Oh,' she whispered. 'Doctor, what did you do?'

He did not answer, but just looked at her with pain in his eyes.

'Doctor. Tell me. What did you do?' she said quietly, but angrily.

'Have you heard of the Moment?'

'Yes, it's a Time Lock. A huge one... No... You didn't use it on them, did you?'

The Doctor looked at the floor.

'You Time Locked Gallifrey?' she asked furiously.

'Yes. But you weren't there! You don't know what they were planning!'

'I was there! Just not for all of it! I couldn't stay. I hated it, the fighting and the guns and the fire and all that death! So I left. And no, I have no idea what they were planning, but that doesn't matter, Doctor! You basically killed them, all of them! Our whole species. You committed genocide!'

The Author couldn't look at him; she brushed past him and into the TARDIS. She didn't want him to see the tears in her eyes.

'Author!' he said, coming in behind her with Martha and closing the door. 'I'm sorry. Really. I am. I'll never stop wishing I could go back and change it, but I can't. I tried to explain why I did what I did, remember? Will you just listen to me?'

She looked up and nodded.

'They planned to destroy the universe. Kill everyone and leave just Time Lords. You know I couldn't let them do that. They were corrupted.'

'Well why didn't you tell me that in the first place?' the Author demanded.

'I was getting to it.' The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck.

'Oh honestly. How have you survived this long if you can never explain anything properly?'

'Weeeeell, I have regenerated nine times, so I guess I haven't done so well in the explanation department.'

'Clearly not,' she said in a slightly superior tone.

The Doctor stuck out his tongue at her.

'What about you, Miss I-Can-Do-No-Wrong?' he asked mockingly.

'Seven times.'

'You've regenerated seven times? That's not much better than me,' the Doctor insisted.

'It's a bit better,' she said.

'Er, what are you talking about?' Martha wondered rather cautiously.

'I'll explain it another time,' the Doctor said, waving her question away.

'Do you ever answer any of her questions?' the Author asked him.

'Not all of them!' piped Martha.

The Author snorted.

'I'm planning to answer it later,' the Doctor said, trying to sound defensive.

'Well, will one of you answer my other question?' Martha asked.

'Fire away,' the Doctor and Author said in unison, both fiddling with the TARDIS controls.

'What exactly are you two to each other? Are you friends, brother and sister, married?'

'Married?' squawked the Author. 'Ew!'

'Hey!' the Doctor pouted.

'So, brother and sister?'

The Author shook her head.

'We're just friends, Martha,' the Doctor said.

Martha nodded. She could see she'd get no more out of them.

'Where were you two going before human me called you?' asked the Author.

'I don't remember...' The Doctor tried to recall what he'd been doing and was quiet for a moment.

'I don't know either,' Martha supplied. 'You could pick.'

'OK,' the Author smiled and went back to the TARDIS controls.

The Doctor had sat down on the jump seat, still trying to remember where they'd been headed. Martha sat next to him and watched in amusement as the Author fussed over the state of the TARDIS console. She was always critical of the Doctor's driving; she'd even stood at his shoulder watching him study TARDIS's when they were kids, which he'd found annoying as she kept correcting him.

'OH!' the Doctor exclaimed. 'I remember! We hadn't decided yet!'

'Helpful,' the Author remarked. 'We've landed, by the way.'

'What are we doing?' asked Martha.

'Chasing giant space lizards. There's going to be a hatching,' the Author said with a slightly insane grin.

The Doctor knew that look, so he went and dug out a bow and quiver of arrows from a closet. They'd need them.

* * *

A/N: Look, fellas, another chapter! Now my Time Lady is a Time Lady and has a name! Sorry this took so long; my laptop was malfunctioning. I had to use my mother's iPad and a desktop computer. O.o I know, I should be happy I could type at all; but I like my laptop, I need my laptop, I'm very attached to my lapt... Oh look, it's Queen Victoria!

On an unrelated topic, I'm going to California this Saturday. Maybe I'll write chapter three from there. If so, I'll tell you in my next author's note.

Bye!


	3. Blink

The Doctor, Martha, and the Author walked out of the TARDIS. The Author insisted that they needed to hurry because they only had half an hour until the hatching and that the migration would start any minute. They got out near an old house, hurried away from it, remembered where the hatching would be, and got a cab to a street nearby the house. The Doctor had given Martha his quiver and slung the bow over his shoulders.

They climbed out of the cab and planned to run to the lizards and stop them.

'Doctor! Author! Doctor!' called a blonde woman outside a book shop.

'Hello! Sorry, bit of a rush! There's a sort of thing happening...'

'And it's fairly important we stop it!' the Author finished for him.

'My god, it's you. It's really you,' the blonde woman said. 'Oh, you two don't remember me, do you?'

'We don't have time for this,' Martha reminded them impatiently. 'Migration's started.'

'Look sorry, we've got a bit of a complex life.' the Doctor apologised. 'Things don't always happen to us in the right order. Gets confusing, especially at weddings. I'm rubbish at weddings, especially my own.'

'You can say that again,' the Author muttered, remembering his wedding on Gallifrey, which had been a flop because a huge jellyfish from the next star system over had eaten some of the guests after it wasn't invited. Though why the jellyfish thought it would be invited in the first place, she would never know.

'Oh my god! Of course, you're time travellers. It hasn't happened yet! None of it, it's still in your future!' the woman realised.

The Author raised her eyebrows. The Doctor asked:

'What hasn't happened yet?'

'Doctor! Author! Twenty minutes to red hatching!' Martha shouted.

'It was me,' the blonde woman told them. 'Oh, for God's sake, it was me all along. You got it all from me!'

'Got what?' asked the Author.

'OK, listen. One day you're going to get stuck in 1969. Make sure you've got this with you; you're going to need it,' said the woman, handing the Doctor a folder.

'Doctor, Author!' Martha hollered.

'Yeah, listen, listen, got to dash...things happening. Weell, four things. Weeell, four things and a lizard,' the Doctor rambled.

The Author rolled her eyes at his strangeness.

'OK, no worries,' the blonde woman said. 'On you go. See you around, some day.'

'What was your name?' asked the Doctor.

'Sally Sparrow,' the woman replied.

'Good to meet you, Sally Sparrow,' the Doctor grinned.

A man with a dumbstruck expression walked up. Sally Sparrow took his hand.

'Goodbye Doctor, Author,' said Sally.

Sally wrapped her arms around the dumbstruck man and led him into the shop. The Author and the Doctor went to join Martha, but the Doctor turned back to look at Sally Sparrow a final time.

It was night as a woman jumped a fence. She'd just jumped into private property, so she glanced around to make sure she hadn't been seen. She didn't notice the 'DANGER KEEP OUT' sign.

She kicked in some boards to get into the old house on the grounds and started to look around the first floor with a torch. She was taking a few pictures when she noticed a tear in the wallpaper. She peeled it back a bit and found the word 'BEWARE.' She pulled back a bit more of the paper until she could read 'THE WEEPING ANGEL.' She pulled b even more of the old wallpaper back to find 'OH, AND DUCK! REALLY DUCK!' She was then puzzled to find her name, 'SALLY SPARROW.' She ripped what she thought was the last strip of wallpaper, reading, 'DUCK NOW.'

Sally heard glass break behind her and ducked. A large rock hit the wall right where her head had just been. She looked over to the window, shining her torch outside in the hopes of finding the rock-thrower. There was no one there, except for a statue of an angel that seemed to be crying.

Sally was still looking at the window, but she tore the last strip away from the wall. Underneath, it said, 'LOVE FROM THE DOCTOR AND THE AUTHOR (1969).'

Once they'd gotten inside the old house, they realised they were a year late for the hatching, so they went back to the TARDIS and travelled back a year in the past.

When they finally were in the correct time, Martha handed the Doctor an arrow. He loaded the bow. The Author had a torch in her hand, and used it to peer around in the shadowy parts of the room.

'Where are the lizards?' she asked quietly.

'What do you mean, "where are the lizards?"?' asked Martha. 'I thought you knew.'

'I did, too,' the Time Lady admitted. 'But look.'

The Author pointed to a pile of empty eggshells.

'They were obviously here,' the Author muttered. 'But they've vanished...'

'They probably left already,' Martha pointed out. 'I told you two that the migration had started, but you were too busy talking to that girl.'

'They were migrating here, Martha,' the Doctor said. 'This was the best place they could think of to live until they got through to their home planet. So they should be here.'

'Well, maybe they're in the basement,' suggested Martha.

The Author frowned.

'Something's telling me the basement is a bad idea...' she trailed off.

'Come on, what's the worst that could happen?' asked Martha.

'Weeeeell...' the Doctor started.

'Nothing's gonna happen!' Martha said. 'You two are just being paranoid.'

'She is,' the Doctor argued. 'I'm not.'

'How am I paranoid?' the Author countered.

'Have you heard yourself talk?' he asked.

'Shut up,' she said.

'So I'm right, then?' he teased.

'Doctor, Author?' Martha whispered.

'Yeah?' they replied in unison.

'Look,' Martha squeaked.

A statue of an angel was snarling at them, its clawed hands outstretched. Both Time Lords' eyes bulged. They knew exactly what the statue was, even though they'd never seen one before. They'd learnt about the Weeping Angels at the Academy, but they had assumed they were a myth.

'Martha,' the Doctor warned. 'Don't blink.'

'Wasn't planning to,' she said in fear.

The light near the basement stairs was already dim, so if the bare light bulb in the basement went out, it would be nearly impossible to see

'Don't let that light go out!' shrieked the Author.

It flickered for a few seconds before going out, shrouding them all in darkness. The Doctor grabbed the Author and Martha's hands as the Angel lightly touched the Doctor's shoulder. Suddenly the lights were on again, but the house looked newer and recently lived-in.

The Doctor sniffed the air, dropped the women's hands, and pulled out his sonic. He buzzed it around, confirming what he knew already and what the Author whispered.

'We're in 1969.'

Sally climbed a flight of stairs, calling out:

'Kathy?'

She glanced into a room down the corridor, where a man was on a screen, talking, sitting next to a woman whom he kept looking at as if for reassurance that he was saying everything right.

'Your life could depend on this. Don't blink. Don't even blink. Blink and you're dead. They are fast, faster than you can believe. Don't turn your back, don't look away, and don't blink. Good luck!'

Sally walked towards the screen that the man was on. There were several in the room. Some had just the man and a woman. Others had them with another woman. They had all paused.

Sally made a call on her mobile as she went into the kitchen. After a few rings, a woman- her friend Kathy- picked up.

'Hello?'

'Bit freaked. Need to talk. Making you a coffee,' Sally said.

'Sally Sparrow, it's one in the morning. You think I'm coming round at one in the morning?'

'No. I'm in the kitchen. What's on all those screens in the front room?'

'Oh god! Oh god!' said Kathy. 'Sally, you've met my brother Larry, haven't you?'

'No,' Sally responded.

'You're about to.'

'OK. Not sure, but really, really hoping. Pants?' asked Kathy's somewhat groggy brother, looking down.

'No,' Sally told him.

'Put them on! Put them on! I hate you! What're you thinking?!' Kathy said in exasperation. To Sally, she said, 'Sorry, my useless brother. Sally? What's wrong? What's happened?'

They'd been there for two weeks now. Martha got a job in a shop and the Author had become a substitute teacher at a school nearby using Olivia Reynolds as a pseudonym. They were renting a small flat, where the Doctor was working on building a thing. The Author had tried to tell him that she was better equipped for building it, having actually paid attention at the Academy as a child. The Doctor then insisted that she didn't know what he was building anyway. So she found a job, thinking that Martha shouldn't have to support the three of them by herself.

The Author enjoyed teaching. She loved children and English, which was her subject. She was a good teacher. She never got angry at the students, just quietly reprimanded them when they misbehaved. The other teachers at the school thought she was too nice, but the children could sense something different about their new teacher and knew it was best to listen to her. Much better than Daleks, she thought quite often.

Martha's opinion on her own job was the exact opposite of the Author's. She hated the shop. Every person who came in seemed to find her just so they could complain. The clothes were all too itchy, too big, too small. Martha did realise that maybe she was exaggerating it all in her head, but she couldn't help it.

One morning, a Saturday, the Doctor came into the kitchen an excited look on his face.

'Doctor, did you just win an unlimited supply of bananas?' the Author asked.

Martha chortled.

'No,' he said. 'Though that would be lovely. I do like bananas... No, I've had an idea.'

'An idea?' Martha asked. 'Didn't you already?'

'The timey wimey detector was a different idea,' he explained.

'Oh, are you done with that? I thought it still needed work,' the Author said.

'It's mostly done. Weeeell, I say mostly. Still need to keep it away from hens...'

'What's your idea?' Martha questioned.

'Oh, yes, that! Right!'

The Doctor held up the folder Sally had given him. The Author and Martha looked at it quizzically.

'It's a transcript!' he said. 'A transcript of stuff we haven't said yet, but will have said. We need to record ourselves saying what's written here and somehow make sure Sally Sparrow gets it in the future so she can give the transcript to us before we got stuck in 1969.' The Doctor looked over at the Author. 'Did I get my tenses right?'

'It would make more sense in Gallifreyan,' she said. 'But I think it still made about as much sense as it ever will.'

'Brilliant!' he said.

'How do we make sure she gets the recording?' asked Martha.

'DVD's!' he grinned, bouncing on the balls of his feet. 'She included a list of all the DVD's where she found our recording. We have to get Easter Eggs of us talking onto all of her DVD's so she'll see it.'

'Brilliant,' the Author said with a grin nearly identical to the Doctor's,

'Exactly what I was thinking!' the Doctor said.

'But DVD's aren't invented yet,' pointed out Martha.

'I have a plan for that, too.'

'OK, let's investigate!' said Kathy happily. 'You and me, girl investigators! Love it! Hey! Sparrow and Nightingale! That so works!'

'Bit ITV,' said Sally.

'I know! What did you come here for anyway?' asked Kathy.

'I love old things, replied Sally. 'They make me feel sad.'

'What's good about sad?'

'It's happy for deep people.'

They stood outside, looking at the Angel statue.

'The Weeping Angel,' said Sally.

'Not goin' in my garden,' Kathy remarked.

'It's moved,' Sally noted.

'It's what?'

'Since yesterday. I'm sure of it. It's closer. It's got closer to the house,' Sally said.

Sally walked along the wall where she'd torn the wallpaper off, puzzled by the writing.

'How can my name be here? How is that possible?' she asked.

There was a ring at the door. Sally went to answer it.

'Who'd come here? What are you doing?! It could be a burglar!' Kathy said frantically.

'A burglar who rings the doorbell?' asked Sally sceptically.

'OK, I'll stay here in case of...' Kathy trailed off.

'In case of?' Sally prompted.

'Incidents?' said Kathy, though it was more a of a question.

Sally opened the door to find a man standing there.

'I'm looking for Sally Sparrow,' he said.

'How did you know I'd be here?' Sally demanded.

'I was told to bring this letter at this exact date and time to Sally Sparrow,' he explained.

'Looks old,' said Sally.

'It is old,' he told her. 'I'm sorry, do you have anything with a photograph on it, like a driver's licence?'

In the other room, Kathy walked around. She could vaguely hear Sally talking to the man at the door. She looked at the Weeping Angel, seeing that its hands were still covering its face. But when she turned away, its hands moved lower, now over its mouth.

'How did they know I was coming here?' Sally asked the man. 'I didn't tell anyone. How could anyone have known?'

'It's all a bit complicated,' he told Sally. 'I'm not sure I understand it myself. I'm sorry, I feel really stupid, but I was told to make absolutely sure. It's so hard to tell with these little photographs, isn't it?'

'Apparently,' said Sally.

Kathy watched the two of them through a mirror as the Angel moved closer.

'Well, here goes, I suppose. Funny feeling, after all these years.'

'Who's it from?'

'Well, that's a long story, actually.'

'Gimme a name.'

The Angel was right behind Kathy, reaching out to touch her.

'Katherine Wainwright,' he said. 'But she specified I should tell you that prior to marriage she was called Kathy Nightingale.'

'Kathy?' Sally asked.

'Yes, Kathy. Katherine Costello Nightingale.'

'Is this a joke?' Sally demanded.

'A joke?!'

'Kathy, is this you?' called Sally.

She started to walk around, looking for her friend.

'Very funny. Kathy?'

* * *

Kathy stood up in the middle of a cornfield, looking around. She heard the mooing of cattle and other animal sounds.

* * *

'Kathy?! Kathy?!' Sally said desperately.

'Please, you need to take this,' the man insisted. 'I promised.'

* * *

There was a man in the cornfield. Kathy went over to him.

'Excuse me,' she said. 'Where am I? I was in London. I was in the middle of London.'

'You're in Hull,' he said.

'No, I'm not,' said Kathy.

'This is Hull,' he insisted.

'No, it isn't,' Kathy said.

'You're in Hull,' he repeated.

'I'm not in Hull. Stop saying Hull.'

* * *

'Who are you?' asked Sally 'Why are you here?'

'I made a promise.'

'Who to?'

'My grandmother. Katherine Costello Nightingale.'

* * *

'Don't have that in London. There's no call for it. It's all Hull.'

He passed Kathy his newspaper, which was dated as the 5th of December, 1920.

'1920?' asked Kathy.

* * *

'Your grandmother?' asked Sally.

'Yes, she died twenty years ago.'

Sally took the package he held out to her. Inside, she found pictures of Kathy. She flipped through them.

'So they're related?' she asked.

'I'm sorry?'

'My Kathy. Your grandmother. They're practically identical.'

'Where are you doing?' asked the man.

Sally started to read the letter to herself.

_My dearest Sally Sparrow, if my grandson has done as he promises he will, then as you read these words it will have been mere minutes since we last spoke. For you. For me it has been over sixty years. The third of the photographs is of my children. The youngest is Sally. I named her after you, of course._

'This is sick!' shouted Sally. 'This is totally sick! Kathy? Kathy! Kathy?'

As Sally shouted, she ran up the stairs. She slowed down at the top of the steps, seeing several Weeping Angel statues arranged there. At the sound of wings, she turned. There stood another Angel. A small silver key on a length of twine dangled from the Angel's hands. As Sally crouched down to examine it, the Angel's hands moved. The door of the house closed.

'No, wait! Hang on!' Sally yelled.

She ran off. The statue with the key held its arm outstretched. Kathy's grandson hurried from the house. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Sally grabbed Kathy's letter and left the house herself, glancing around for Kathy's grandson before walking away from the grounds. The Weeping Angels stayed inside, watching Sally Sparrow from the windows.

In a cafe, Sally sat reading the rest of Kathy's letter.

_I suppose, unless I live to a really exceptional old age, I will be long gone as you read this. Don't feel sorry for me. I have led a good and full life. I've loved a good man and been well loved in return. You would have liked Ben. He was the first person I met in 1920._

'Are you following me?' asked Kathy.

'Yeah,' said Ben.

'Are you gonna stop following me?'

'No, I don't think so.'

Sally walked through a cemetery, stopping at Kathy's headstone and crouching down.

_To take on breath in 2007 and the next in 1920 is a strange way to start a new life, but a new life is exactly what I've always wanted._

'1902?' said Sally, looking at the dates of birth and death on the stone. 'You told him you were 18? You lying cow!'

Sally left the cemetery, not seeing the statue that watched her intently.

_My mum and dad are gone by your time, so really there's only Lawrence to tell. He works at the DVD store on Queen Street. I don't know what you're going to say to him, but I know you'll think of something. Just tell him I love him._

* * *

'Excuse me, I'm looking for Lawrence Nightingale.'

'Through the back,' said the man at the front desk.

'Hello?' Sally called, walking into the back of the store.

'Martha!' said a man and woman on a monitor as though chiding the owner of the name.

'Sorry!' said the girl.

'Quite possibly. 'Fraid so,' the man said.

'Oh. Hello. Can I help you?' said Larry.

'Hi', said Sally.

'38,' said the man on the screen, while the woman nodded.

'Er, just a mo,' said Larry, pausing the video. 'Hang on. We've met, haven't we?'

'It'll come to you,' Sally told him.

'Oh, my god!' he said, remembering.

'There it is.'

'Sorry. Sorry again about the whole...'

'Message from your sister,' Sally said.

'Oh! OK! What? What is it? What's the message?'

'She's had to go away for a bit.'

'Where?'

'Just a work thing. Nothing to worry about.'

'OK.'

'And...'

'And what?'

'She loves you.'

'She what?!' Larry squawked.

'She said to say,' said Sally quickly. 'She just sort of mentioned it. She loves you. There, isn't that nice?'

'Is she ill?' Larry asked.

'No!' Sally said, very loudly, then, at a normal level of volume, 'No.'

'Am I ill?' asked Larry.

'No!'

'Is this a trick?'

'No. She loves you,' Sally insisted.

'Yeh. Yeah, people don't understand time,' said the man on the TV.

'It's not what you think it is,' agreed the woman.

'Who are these two?' asked Sally.

'Sorry,' Larry apologised. 'Pause thing keeps slipping. Stupid thing.'

'Last night at Kathy's, you had them on those screens. Those same two. Talking about, I dunno, blinking or something.'

'Yeah, the bit about the blinking is great! I was checking to see if they were all the same,' said Larry.

'What were all the same? What is this? Who are they?' asked Sally.

'An Easter Egg,' said Larry.

'Excuse me?' she said.

'Like a DVD extra, yeah? You know how on DVDs they put extras on, like documentaries and stuff? Well, sometimes they put on hidden ones, and they call them Easter Eggs. You have to look for them, follow a bunch of clues in the menu screen,' Larry explained.

'Complicated,' said the man on the screen.

'Sorry. It's interesting, actually. They are on seventeen different DVDs. There are seventeen totally unrelated DVDs, all with them on, always hidden away, always a secret. Not even the publishers know how they got on there. I've talked to the manufacturers, right? They don't even know. They're like... They're a ghost DVD extra. Just show up where they're not supposed to be. But only on those. Those seventeen.'

'Well, what do they do?'

'Just sit there making random remarks. It's like we're hearing half of a conversation. Me and the guys always try to work out the other half.'

'When you say you and the guys, you mean the internet, don't you?'

'How d'you know?'

'Spooky, isn't it?'

'Very complicated,' the man continued.

'Very, very complicated,' added the woman.

'Florence?' called the guy at the desk. 'I need you!'

''Scuse me for a sec,' Larry said, leaving the room.

'People assume that time is a strict progression from cause to effect, but actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly, timey wimey… stuff,' the man onscreen rambled.

'Started well, that sentence,' Sally remarked.

'Yeah, try saying that ten times fast!' the woman next to him said with a smile.

'Got away from me, yeah,' he admitted.

'OK, that was weird, like you can hear me,' Sally said, a bit frightened.

'Well we can hear you,' the man informed her.

'OK, that's enough. I've had enough now. I've had a long day, and I've had bloody enough!' shouted Sally. 'Sorry, bad day.'

'Got you the list,' said Larry.

'What?' Sally said, not having heard him come in.

'The seventeen DVDs,' he clarified. 'I thought you might be interested.'

'Yeah, great, thanks!' Sally said.

'Go to the police, you stupid woman!' snapped the guy at the desk. 'Why does no one ever just go to the police?'

* * *

'Look, I know how mad I'm sounding,' Sally told the desk sergeant.

'Shall we try it from the beginning this time?' the desk sergeant asked.

'OK,' said Sally. 'There's this house, a big old house, been empty for years, falling apart. Wester Drumlins, out by the estate. You've probably seen it.'

'Wester Drumlin?' asked the desk sergeant.

'Yes,' Sally replied.

'Could you wait here for a moment?'

The desk sergeant left. Sally looked out the window. Outside, two Weeping Angel statues stood as if waiting for her. She blinked and they were gone.

'OK, cracking up now,' she muttered to herself.

'Hi,' said a man, coming up to Sally. 'DI Billy Shipton. Wester Drumlins, that's mine. Can't talk to you now. Got a thing I can't late for, so if you could just...' The DI looked at Sally. 'Hello!' he said, in a different manner entirely from the one he'd been using.

'Hello,' Sally said back.

'Eh, Marcy, can you tell them I'm gonna be late for that thing?' the DI said.

* * *

'All of them?' asked Sally as the DI took her into a garage full of cars.

'Over the last two years, yeah,' the DI explained. 'They still have personal possessions in them and a couple still had the motor running.'

'So over the last two years the owners of all of these vehicles have driven up to Wester Drumlins House, parked outside and disappeared?' Sally asked.

Sally saw a large blue wooden box, with a sign that said 'POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX.'

'What's that?' asked Sally.

'Ah! The pride of the Wester Drumlins collection! We found that there, too. Someone's idea of a joke, I suppose.'

'But what is it? What's a police box?'

'Well, it's a special kind of phone box for policemen. They used to have them all over. But this isn't a real one. The phone's just a dummy and the windows are the wrong size. We can't even get in. Ordinary Yale lock, but nothing fits. But that's not the big question. See, you're missing the big question.'

'OK, what's the big question?' she asked.

'Will you have a drink with me?' asked the DI.

'I'm sorry?' she asked, bemused.

'Drink, you, me, now?' he asked again.

'Aren't you on duty, Detective Inspector Shipton?' she asked.

'Nope, knocked off before I left. Told 'em I had a family crisis.'

'Why?'

'Because life is short and you are hot. Drink?' he asked a third time.

'No.'

'Ever?'

'Maybe.'

'Phone number?'

'Moving kind of fast, DI Shipton.'

'Billy,' he corrected her. 'I'm off duty.'

'Aren't you just?'

'Is that your phone number?' he asked, as she wrote on a piece of paper.

'Just my phone number. Not a promise, not a guarantee, not an IOU. Just a phone number.'

'And that's Sally...' he prompted.

'Sally Shipton,' she said. Then she blushed, realising what she'd said. 'Sparrow!' she corrected herself. 'Sally Sparrow. I'm going now. Don't look at me.'

'I'll phone you!' Billy said.

'Don't look at me,' she said again.

'Phone you tomorrow!'

'Don't look at me,' she repeated.

'Might even phone you tonight.'

'Don't look at me!'

'Definitely gonna phone you, gorgeous girl!'

'You definitely better!'

Billy looked over at the blue box, surprised to see Weeping Angel statues surrounding. He went over to investigate. Then he blinked.

Sally left the building, pulling the small key she'd got off the statue from her pocket. She remembered what Billy had said: 'Ordinary Yale lock, but nothing fits.'

Sally ran back to the building to find that Billy and the blue box were both gone.

* * *

Billy hit back against a wall and fell to the ground.

'Welcome,' said a tall man with spiky brown hair.

The tall guy approached Billy, followed by a pretty dark-skinned young woman and a pale, thoughtful looking woman who might have been younger but could be older as well. The tall man held a device in his hand which kept beeping and clicking.

'Where am I?'

'1969. Not bad, as it goes. You've got the moon landing to look forward to,' the man said.

'Oh the moon landing's brilliant,' said the dark-skinned woman. 'We went four times. Back when we had transport...'

'Martha, stop complaining about that,' muttered the thoughtful woman.

'I'm working on it,' said the man at the same time.

'How did I get here?' asked Billy.

'The same way we did. The touch of an angel. Same one, probably, since you ended up in the same year,' said the tall man. 'No no no no no, don't get up,' he added as Billy tried to stand. 'Time travel without a capsule, nasty. Catch your breath, don't go swimming for half an hour.'

'Fascinating race, the Weeping Angels. The only psychopaths in the universe to kill you nicely. No mess, no fuss, they just zap you into the past and let you live to death. The rest of your life used up and blown away in the blink of an eye. You die in the past, and in the present they consume the energy of all the days you might have had, all your stolen moments. They're creatures of the abstract. They live off potential energy.'

'Potential time energy, actually,' corrected the thoughtful woman. 'Normal potential energy is the amount of energy an object contains before it begins to move, which is different from kinetic energy, which is the energy an object uses as it moves...'

'What in God's name are you talking about?' asked Billy, cutting off the woman's ramblings.

'Trust me,' said the woman named Martha. 'Just nod when they stop for breath.'

'Tracked you down with this. This is my timey-wimey detector. It goes ding when there's stuff. Also, it can boil an egg at thirty paces, whether you want it to or not. I've learned to stay away from hens. It's not pretty when they blow.'

'Eurgh,' said the thoughtful woman, looking less thoughtful than nauseated now. 'I told to stop talking about that.'

'Sorry,' he mouthed.

'I don't understand,' said Billy. 'Where am I?'

'1969, like they say,' Martha told him.

'Normally, we'd offer you a lift home, but someone nicked our motor,' the spiky haired man said, not noticing how happy the thoughtful woman looked at the words "our motor". 'So we need you to take a message to Sally Sparrow. And I'm sorry, Billy, I am very, very sorry. It's gonna take you a while.'

* * *

Sally's mobile rang. She picked it up and said, 'Hello, Billy. Where are you? Where?'

She rushed to where Billy told her he was, a hospital. She ended up in a long dreary room full of empty beds. Only one was occupied, by a sleeping old man.

'Billy?' Sally said.

The old man woke up as Sally turned away.

'It was raining when we met,' said Billy.

'It's the same rain,' Sally replied.

A few moments later, Billy handed Sally a picture of himself and a woman on their wedding day.

'She looks nice,' said Sally.

'Her name was Sally, too,' Billy said.

'Sally Shipton,' Sally said softly.

'Sally Shipton!' said Billy. 'I often thought about looking for you before tonight, but apparently it would have torn a hole in the fabric of space and time and destroyed two-thirds of the universe. Also I'd lost my hair.'

'Two-thirds of the universe. Where'd you get that?' asked Sally.

'There are a man and woman in 1969. They sent me with a message for you.'

'What man and woman?'

'The Doctor and the Author,' Billy told her.

'And what was the message?'

'Just this. Look at the list.'

'What does that mean? Is that it, look at the list?'

'They said you'd have it by now. A list of seventeen DVDs. I didn't stay a policeman back then. I got into publishing. Then video publishing. Then DVDs, of course.'

'You put the Easter Egg on?'

'Have you noticed what all seventeen DVDs have in common? I suppose it's hard for you, in a way.'

'How could the Doctor have known I had a list? I only just got this!'

'I asked him how, but he said he couldn't tell me. He said you'd understand it one day, but that I never would,' Billy said.

'As soon as I understand it, I'll come and tell you,' Sally said optimistically.

'No, gorgeous girl, you can't. There's only tonight. He told me all those years ago that we'd only meet again this one time. On the night I die,' he told her sadly.

'Oh, Billy,' said Sally. She didn't know what else she could say to him.

'It's kept me going,' Billy explained. 'I'm an old, sick man. But I've had something to look forward to. Ah, life is long. And you are hot. Oh, look at my hands. They're old man's hands. How did that happen?'

'I'll stay,' Sally said soothingly. 'I'm going to stay with you. Okay?'

'Thank you, Sally Sparrow,' said Billy. 'I have 'til the rain stops.'

* * *

A phone was ringing. Larry picked it up.

'Banto's,' he said.

'They're mine,' Sally announced.

'What?' asked Larry, confused.

'The DVDs on the list. The seventeen DVDs. What they've got in common is me. They're all the DVDs I own. The Easter Egg was intended for me!' she explained.

'You've only got seventeen DVDs?' Larry asked.

'Do you have a portable DVD player?' asked Sally, ignoring Larry's question.

'Course, why?'

'I want you to meet me.'

'Where?'

'Wester Drumlins.'

* * *

'You live in Scooby Doo's house!' Larry exclaimed as he walked into the creepy old mansion.

'For god's sake,' she said, annoyed. 'I don't live here!'

'Okay, this is the one with the clearest sound. Slightly better picture quality on this one, but I don't—' Larry started.

'Doesn't matter,' Sally said quickly, cutting him off.

'Okay. There they are.'

'The Doctor,' Sally intoned. 'And the Author.'

'Who are the Doctor and the Author?' asked Larry.

'They are,' Sally clarified.

'Yep, that's us,' the Doctor and Author said in unison onscreen.

'OK, that was scary,' said Sally.

'No,' Larry said. 'It sounds like they're replying, but they always say that.'

'Yes, we do,' the Author said.

'And that,' said Larry.

'Yep, and this,' the Doctor agreed.

'They can hear us. Oh my god, you can really hear us!' she said in a paranoid tone.

'Of course they can't hear us. Look! I've got a transcript, see, everything they say. "Yep, that's us". "Yes, we do". "Yep, and this". Next it's...'

'Are you going to read the whole thing?' asked the Author and the Doctor as Larry read it from the transcript.

'Sorry,' Larry said.

'Who are you?' asked Sally.

'We're time travellers. Well, we were. We're stuck in 1969,' the Doctor explained.

'We're stuck. All of space and time, he promised me. Now I've got a job in a shop, and the Author's teaching. We've got to support him!' said a girl with dark skin, coming into the frame.

'Martha!' the Doctor and Author scolded in unison.

'Sorry,' Martha muttered, disappearing from the screen.

'I've seen this bit before,' Sally recalled.

'Quite possibly,' the Doctor said.

'1969? That's where you're talking from?' asked Sally.

'Fraid so,' the Doctor answered.

'But you're replying to me. You can't know exactly what I'm gonna say, 40 years before I say it!' Sally said doubtfully.

'38,' the Doctor corrected as the Author nodded at him.

'I'm getting this down! I'm writing in your bits,' said Larry.

'How? How is this possible? Tell me!' Sally said loudly.

'Not so fast,' said Larry, trying to write in time to Sally's speaking.

'People don't understand time,' the Doctor said.

'It's not what you think it is,' put in the Author.

'Then what is it?' Sally asked.

'Complicated,' said the Doctor as if that explained everything.

'Tell me,' Sally commanded.

'Very complicated,' the Doctor elaborated.

'Very, very complicated,' the Author said.

'I'm clever and I'm listening. And don't patronise me because people have died, and I'm not happy. Tell me,' Sally said angrily.

'People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey… stuff,' the Doctor said.

'Yeah, I've seen this bit before. You said that sentence got away from you,' Sally told the screen.

'Yeah, try saying that ten times fast!' the Author joked.

'Got away from me, yeah,' the Doctor confessed.

'Next thing you're going to say is, "Well, we _can_ hear you ".'

'Well, we _can _hear you,' the Doctor said.

'This isn't possible,' said Sally.

'No. It's brilliant!' Larry said.

'Not hear you exactly. But we know everything you're gonna say,' the Doctor explained.

'Always gives me the shivers, that bit,' muttered Larry.

'How can you know what I'm going to say?' Sally asked.

'Look to your left,' said the Doctor. The Author surreptitiously pointed left.

'What does he mean by, "Look to your left"?' said Larry. 'I've written tons about that on the forums. I think it's a political statement.'

'They mean you,' Sally told him. 'What are you doing?'

'I'm writing in your bits. So I've got a complete transcript of the whole conversation. Wait until this hits the net. This will explode the egg forums,' Larry said excitedly.

'We've got a copy of the finished transcript,' the Author explained.

'It's on our Autocue,' the Doctor finished.

'How can you have a copy of the finished transcript?' inquired Sally. 'It is still being written.'

'I told you. We're time travellers. We got it in the future,' said the Doctor.

'Okay, let me get my head 'round this. You're reading from a transcript of a conversation you're still having? Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey. Actually, never mind that…' She turned to Larry. 'You can do shorthand?' she asked.

'So?' said Larry.

'What matters is we can communicate. We have got big problems now. They've taken the blue box, haven't they? The angels have the phone box,' the Doctor told them.

'The angels have the phone box! That's my favourite; I've got it on a tee-shirt!' Larry announced.

'What do you mean, angels? You mean those statue things?' asked Sally.

'Creatures from another world,' the Doctor informed them.

'But they're just statues,' Sally said, confused.

'Only when you see them,' the Doctor and the Author spoke at the same time, ominously.

'What does that mean?' Sally asked.

'Lonely assassins, they were called. No-one knows where they came from. They're as old as the universe, or very nearly. They've survived this long as they have the most perfect defence system ever evolved. They are quantum-locked. They don't exist when being observed. The moment they're seen by any other living creature they freeze into rock. No choice. It's a fact of their biology. In the sight of any living thing, they literally turn to stone. And you can't kill a stone. Course, a stone can't kill you either. But then you turn your head away, then you blink, and oh, yes it can!' the Doctor explained.

'Or send you back in time, at the very least,' the Author added, trying to keep them from being too scared.

'Don't take your eyes off that,' Sally ordered Larry, pointing to the statue at the edge of the room.

'That's why they cover their eyes. They're not weeping, they can't risk looking at each other. Their greatest asset is their greatest curse. They can never be seen. The loneliest creatures in the universe. And I'm sorry, I am very, very sorry, it's up to you now,' the Doctor said.

The Author looked through the screen with a sad smile, as though she saw them.

'What am I supposed to do?' asked Sally desperately.

'The blue box, it's our time machine. There is a world of time energy in there they could feast on forever. The damage they can do can switch off the sun. You have got to send it back to us!' the Doctor said.

'How? How?' Sally frantically demanded.

'That's it, I'm afraid,' the Author said sadly. 'There's no more from you on the transcript, that's all we've got.'

'I dunno what stopped you talking, but I can guess. They're coming. The angels are coming for you. But listen, your life could depend on this. Don't blink! Don't even blink. Blink and you're dead. They are fast, faster than you can believe. Don't turn your back, don't look away, and don't blink! Good luck!' the Doctor said dramatically.

'No! Don't! You can't!' screamed Sally.

'I can rewind him,' Larry offered.

'What good will that do?!' Sally demanded. 'You're not looking at the statue?'

'Neither are you,' Larry pointed out.

The Angel was nearer to them now. Much nearer. Its face had distorted into an animalistic snarl, showing pointed teeth.

'Keep looking at it. Keep looking at it!' Sally said, terrified.

'There's just one, right, there's just this one. We're okay if we keep staring at this one statue, everything's gonna be fine,' Larry said, seemingly trying to reassure himself.

'There's three more,' Sally realised.

'Three?!' he squeaked.

'They were upstairs. I think I heard them moving.'

'Where? Three moving where?'

'I'll look around, I'm going to check. Keep looking at this one, don't blink. Remember what he said, don't even blink!' Sally reminded him.

'Who blinks? I'm too scared to blink,' Larry said. He certainly looked that way.

'Okay. We're going to the door. Front door. Okay. We can't both get to the front door without taking our eyes off that thing. You stay here,' Sally told him.

'What?!'

'I'll be just round the corner, stay here! They've locked it. They've locked us in!' Sally shouted.

'Why?' asked Larry.

'I've got something they want,' Sally told him.

'What?' he asked.

'The key, I took it last time I was here. They followed me to get it back. I led them to the blue box. Now they've got that!'

'Give them the key!' Larry said.

'I'm gonna check the back door, you wait here,' Sally said, seeming not to have heard him.

'Give them the key,' said Larry again. 'Give them what they want! Sally, no, what if they come behind me?!'

'Hang on!' she said.

'Oh, god! Oh, god!' he shouted, eyes wide with terror.

'It's locked!'

Larry looked away from the Weeping Angel for a split second, during which it advanced even more. He barely looked back in time to stay where he was.

'Sally! Sally!' he screamed.

'It won't open!' Sally cried.

'Sally, please, I can't do this! Sally, hurry up! Where are you?!'

'Larry! They've blocked off the back door, but there's a cellar. There might be a way out, delivery hatch or something,' Sally answered, thinking quickly.

'I'm coming! I can't stay here,' Larry informed Sally.

'Okay, boys, I know how this works,' Sally told the Angels. 'You can't move so long as I can see you. Whole world in the box, the Doctor says. Hope he's not lying, 'cause I don't see how else we're getting out. Oh, and there's your one.'

'Why's it pointing at the...light?' stammered Larry.

The light flickered, getting dimmer.

'Oh, my god! It's turning out the lights!' Sally realised.

'Quickly!' wailed Larry.

'I can't find the lock,' panicked Sally.

'Sally, hurry up! Get it open! They're getting faster, Sally, come on!'

'It won't turn!' Sally screeched.

'Sally!'

Sally turned the key again. The lock clicked and the door swung open. They both hurried into the room inside. The Weeping Angels surrounded the box as they shut the door behind them. A blue, hologram of the Doctor appeared.

'This is security protocol 712. This time capsule has detected the presence of an authorised control disc, valid one journey,' he said.

Larry opened a DVD case, taking out a glowing disk.

'Please insert the disc and prepare for departure,' he told them.

'Looks like a DVD player. There's a slot,' Sally said to Larry as he tried to work out where to put the disk.

The time machine started moving. Something outside, Sally knew it was the Angels, was rocking it.

'They're trying to get in!' shouted Larry.

'Well hurry up then!'

The room started dematerialising around them, leaving them outside.

'What's happening?' asked Larry.

'Oh, my God! It's leaving us behind! Doctor, no, you can't! Doctor!' Sally cried.

Sally and Larry huddled on the floor, terrified.

'Look at them! Quick, look at them!'

'I don't think we need to,' Larry said. 'He tricked them, The Doctor tricked them. They're looking at each other. They're never gonna move again.'

The TARDIS started to appear in 1969.

'Oh, brilliant Sally Sparrow!' the Doctor said with a grin.

'Brilliant you, too,' the Author pointed out. 'I think we can all agree that was a fairly amazing plan.'

The Doctor smiled at her.

'Yeah, everyone's a genius,' said Martha drily. 'Now can we please leave?'

The Time Lords rolled their eyes.

'Yup,' the Doctor told her. 'Let's get out of here.'

'Oh thank god,' said the Author. 'This dress is killing me!'

The Doctor and Martha stared at her.

'It's itchy!' she said defensively, sticking out her tongue.

The Doctor just shook his head. Then he gestured for them to go in. Once inside, the Author made a beeline for the wardrobe room, muttering about how 1969 was the worst year in history and exactly what she wanted to do to the maker of that stupid dress.

Martha raised an eyebrow.

'And you don't like it when I complain,' she said.

The Doctor shrugged, setting the coordinates for their next adventure.

* * *

A/N: I'm done! I'm finally done with Blink! Yippee! I did not post this from California, but it was almost entirely written there. I did, in fact, have fun there. I got to see loads of stuff, like blue whales and cacti and things. It was lovely there. Didn't rain at all!

Anyway, this was a bit of a challenge to write. The Doctor and Author were barely in it, so there weren't many occasions to add in her dialogue. Also people kept switching times and places. And people talked so much that I had to find a thesaurus and look up 'said' in it. It was pretty fun, though, all in all. Weeping Angels are a really creepy idea. Eek!

So I hope you enjoyed my re-write of Blink. Next chapter is Utopia, where the main characters actually get to talk for more than 5 minutes at a time. You will learn more about the Author's past in the next few chapters, if all goes to plan. Have a nice day!


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